News from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Charlton McIlwain, assistant professor of media, culture, and communication, recently sat down with Reuters TV to discuss whether America has entered a “post-racial era,” following Senator Barack Obama’s historic victory in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

McIlwain suggests that overemphasis on the historic nature of the victory might enable society to argue against the need to help African-Americans in the future.

“The danger is the degree to which society might look to Obama’s candidacy and say, ‘Race no longer matters and therefore [African-American] claims to racial injustice also are no longer real or significant.’”